Within the next month or two most people will celebrate one or more holidays. Holidays are wonderful times that can be filled with fun, family, friends and plenty of nostalgia. Unfortunately, the good times can easily be spoiled by an emergency plumbing situation. This is why you should always have the number of an emergency plumber on hand.
The holiday season, especially in cold weather regions, presents its own unique set of challenges when it comes to plumbing. Extra guests, accidents and frigid temperatures can all play a part in your need to call an emergency plumber out on a holiday. Things like routine maintenance can help prevent some issues, but sometimes things just happen that are out of our control.
How To Avoid Holiday Plumbing Emergencies
As you prepare for the extra cooking and guests that the holidays bring, you can also prepare your plumbing. Taking a few quick and easy preventative measures can spare you the time and cost of having to enlist an emergency plumber in the middle of your holiday.
5 Tips to Prevent Plumbing Emergencies During the Holidays
Follow these tips for a stress free holiday, at least when it comes to your plumbing.
- Start the season with clean drains. This is one of the best things you can do to make things run smoothly. Pour one part baking soda and one part vinegar down the drain (a half cup to one cup of each). Wait for a few moments and then rinse with warm water. If you don’t have sink strainers, you should invest in them (they are relatively inexpensive). This will help keep your drains from becoming clogged during all of the cooking and dishwashing of holiday meal preparation.
- Prepare your bathroom. It is a good idea to make sure that there is a plunger handy in every bathroom. You should keep it somewhere out of the way, but also in a place where the guest will see it, in case it is needed. In addition, place a trash can in a visible and easy-to-use place. This will encourage guests not to put anything into your septic system that doesn’t belong there.
- Clean your kitchen appliances. This is a good time of year to remember to clean appliances that don’t normally require a standard weekly going over. This is the time to check the dishwasher’s drain trap and screen. You can add a few drops of essential oil to your garbage disposal to prevent smells, or you can run a quartered lemon through the disposal. Whatever you do, do not put grease down your drain, it is likely to cause a clog and will damage your septic system.
- Prepare your bathtub and shower. If you are going to have guests staying overnight with you doing the holiday season, they will likely be taking baths and showers. Of course, you know they will need extra towels, but there are other preparations that you should make, too. Make sure that you clear any hair out of the drains. If you do not have strainers for the drains, save yourself a lot of trouble and add them. If you are hosting more than one person, make sure everyone waits at least ten to twenty minutes between showers so that the drains have time to clear.
- Address any existing maintenance concerns. If you have dripping faucets or a slow running drain, you will want to address that before the holidays. Once the stress of holiday cooking multiple guests and cold weather sets in, problems can become much more difficult to handle.
Contact an Emergency Plumber in Broken Arrow, OK.
No matter how many precautions we take, sometimes, things just happen. Emergencies often happen at inopportune times. If you have a plumbing emergency in Broken Arrow, OK. and need help, call Mullin Plumbing, Inc. at (918) 209-3133 right away.